2016: Embodied Expression: The Body in Academia, the Field, and In-Between

9th Annual OSU/ IU Folklore and Ethnomusicology Student Conference

We are happy to announce the 9th annual collaborative conference between The Ohio State University Folklore Student Association and the Folklore & Ethnomusicology Student Associations at Indiana University. This conference aims to create a space for graduate and undergraduate students to share their research in folklore, ethnomusicology, anthropology, cultural studies, material culture, literary studies, performance studies, and related disciplines connected to the study of academic and vernacular interpretations of everyday life.

This year’s conference focuses on how bodies can function as text, as expression, as instrument, as mediator. We offer the following questions as potential points of departure; however, submissions on other topics are also welcome.

What kinds of bodies (people, institutions, texts) do we encounter in our fields and what kinds of stories do they tell?

In what ways can the body be or express art?

How does the body facilitate/ complicate performance?

How does the non-presence of the body (in online transmission, for example) complicate the role of vernacular arts? What are the affordances of the disembodied voice?

What kinds of bodies have power? How is power negotiated through different kinds of bodies?

What kinds of intersections do we see between folklore, ethnomusicology, and disability? How do these disciplines speak to each other?

In what ways do audiences decenter or legitimize power?

How do the bodies of individuals represent or challenge ideas of the body politic, or of historical ideas of types of bodies? How can the discourses around these bodies be useful/ de-personalizing/ problematic/ beneficial?

The conference will have three opportunities for participation: 20-minute paper presentations, a poster session, and roundtables. We will be accepting 250-word abstracts for all presentation formats. We encourage pre-organized panels and roundtables (with a stated topic and a list of presenters.) Submissions from diverse areas of study are welcome, but we ask that presenters articulate the connection of their topics to the study of folklore or ethnomusicology (ethnography, artistic expression, traditional narratives and materials, groups, genre, the everyday, community, identity, etc.) in their abstracts.

This year, we are also inviting upper-level graduate students to serve as panel discussants. To be considered, please send a short statement of intent (250 words) separate from any presentation proposal, explaining your interest and your area(s) of specialization.

All materials must be submitted by Friday, January 15th 2016 to osuiu2016conference@gmail.com. Please attach a Word Document to your e-mail. For more information on the details of the conference visit http://cfs.osu.edu/fsa/studentconference in the coming months.

Please Note: This conference has a long history of fostering community and connection between young scholars and mentors in our fields. Because the event is planned with the benefits of co-presence in mind, it is preferred that participants plan to attend the full two days of the conference.